Searching for Rare Alfa Books
by Steve Silverstein
AONE Director
You have probably cruised through the local bookstore and found only a few of the most popular Alfa titles — and not much more. So to find that out-of-print or non-stocked book, there are some very easy ways of searching — thanks to the internet and dealers.
Let’s look at the normal channels of sourcing to which everybody has access. First, there are the "old/rare" book dealers such as the Selective Reader (413-774-5594) or Tavares Motorsports (978-369-0801). These people carry a large selection and will conduct book searches for you. If you want to find more of these types of dealers, you need to go to a vintage race at a track such as Lime Rock. It is nice to be able to handle and look at these books before you purchase. The vendors at the races give you this opportunity.
Can your typical Borders or Barnes & Noble get "in-print" or "recently discontinued" books directly from the publisher? Yes. But let’s face it — the Alfa books usually fade away quickly from the shelves, and the production run is typically small, at least for the more desirable books, such as the books that look at an individual model and thoroughly cover the subject. For almost all current Alfa books, try Classic Motorbooks (www.motorbooks.com), EWA (www.ew1.com), or Books For Cars (www.booksforcars.com).
Because of the limited availabilty, severe pricing pressure usually occurs. Remember the Don Hughes book The Racing Guilliettas? Once about $20 back in ‘94, it is now between $100-$125 used. And, of course, there is The Immortal 2.9 by Simone Moore, which now is $350 and up according to Classic Motorbooks’ out-of-print book search (www.motorbooks.com).
Now let's say time is on your side and you want the book, but may not want to pay top dollar. The alternative is to conduct book searches on the web and establish book "wants". Bibliofind and Advanced Book Exchange are two very good sources (www.bibliofind.com and www.abebooks.com). Now for the really good part: First conduct a search — often you will have many returns from book dealers all over the world. Pricing is usually more favorable, so you have this tremendous variety at reasonable prices. Now, if they don’t have exactly what you are looking for, you can establish "wants". These will notify you that a book is available via e-mail. But remember, it takes a couple of days for a "want" to be sent, so a book could be sold before you have the opportunity to purchase it.
A search service that I have tried, "Bookfinders" (www.bookfinder.com) hits all the major sites and is reasonably effective. There are many other sources on the web, including Powell’s, Albris, and even eBay. I try to avoid eBay unless absolutely necessary — the prices sometimes will exceed the market.
So now you have some basics of book searching. Should you buy immediately if you find it on the web? Buy the ones you really want and start watching the others you might buy. Prices vary considerably. Occasionally, you still find The Immortal 2.9 for $65. Yeah, right ...